A teacher who quit her job at a Birmingham special school after being threatened by an intruder has won a £330,000 payout from the city council.

The sum handed to Anna Mongey in an out-of-court settlement is believed to be the largest paid by the authority to an employee in recent years.

She sued the council after the intruder, understood to have been freed a short time earlier from a jail sentence, confronted her at Lindsworth Special School in Monyhull Hall Road, Kings Norton.

Ms Mongey ordered him out of her class but he threatened to return for her. She was not hurt but never returned to her job and launched legal action believed to relate to risk assessment procedures.

A Birmingham City Council spokesman confirmed the payout and said the authority had learned lessons from the case.

"The case involving Anna Mongey has been settled out of court after taking further advice from counsel," he said.

"The city council takes the safety of its employees very seriously and will review procedures. Any comments made by the judge will be taken on board and discussed."

The intruder claimed he wanted to speak to a relative in Ms Mongey's class when he confronted her in May 2001.

Ms Mongey did not want to comment on the settlement. But a number of sources close to the school told how she had been left traumatised.

"She was threatened and he was very close to her," said one source, who would not be named. "She had never seen him before and he was a complete stranger. But she never came back to school. There was not enough risk assessment there."

The council said the payout was thought to be the largest made to a employee in the past four years.

The National Union of Teachers called on headteachers to act to protect their staff.

"We welcome the fact the council recognises its duty of care to its teachers, as reflected in the value of the settlement," said Birmingham branch deputy general secretary, Bill Anderson.